Separate Libraries in Apple Music with Family Sharing

My question is a continuation of the conversation at Separate Libraries on Apple Music with Fa… - Apple Community.

The statement “As long as your own Apple ID is signed in, you should have your own Apple Music library with an active Apple Music subscription,” does not appear to be completely true.

I have a Family Share plan for my family. We upgraded to Apple One a few months ago.

In Apple Music I’ve always seen everyone else’s music and playlists in my Library. VERY annoying, but I’ve just lived with it.

For those who are thinking “You must have family members logged in with the same Apple ID. That’s why you’re seeing their music and playlists…” I’ve confirmed multiple times on each family member’s devices that we are all logged in with our own separate individual Apple IDs.

I assumed everyone in the family was seeing each other’s music and playlists just like I was, but I learned this week that wasn’t the case (or at least wasn’t for my wife). My kids each still appear to have their own library, but my wife doesn’t anymore. Here’s what happened…

I recently got my wife a brand new iPhone, and as part of the setup process we transferred everything from her old iPhone to her new iPhone. Most of her stuff transferred over, but not all of it. There were some songs and playlists missing. In an attempt to resolve the issue, my son went into her settings for Music and turned on the Sync Library option, thinking it would sync up the missing songs and playlists. It didn’t! Instead, it caused another one of her playlists to disappear, and it added music and playlists from other family members. It was NOT a pleasant experience.

I searched all over the Internet for an explanation. I found a number of sites where others have complained about similar problems with family members seeing each other’s music in their libraries (including the one referenced above), and several responses claiming that each family member “should” have their own library as long as they are logged in with their own Apple ID.

I explained to my wife that I couldn’t find a good explanation for what had happened, and I couldn’t find information for how to undo or fix it. All I could find were comments stating that each person should be able to have their own library.

My wife was so annoyed with the excessive clutter that was now showing up in her music library that she literally spent all night removing unwanted songs and playlists from her library, and adding the missing songs and playlists that had disappeared.

Imagine my shock the next day when ALL of my songs and playlists were now missing from MY music library. Now I’m seeing on my phone what my wife has on her phone 🤯.

Again, I checked to see what Apple ID was set up on my wife’s old and new phones, and on my phone, and they were not the same — we each were logged in with our own individual Apple IDs.

Strangely, I checked my daughter’s music library and hers was just fine. It hadn’t been affected like mine was. I wondered if it could have something to do with the Sync Library feature in Music settings. I thought maybe my daughter had that feature turned off, but that wasn’t the case. She had it turned on just like I did and my wife did. So I can’t explain why my Library has been completely replaced with my wife’s, but my daughter’s is just fine.

I’m stumped (and outraged!!!).